


outside

by 800th



Category: Club Penguin
Genre: Bugs & Insects, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spiders, garys lowkey being a lil vegan here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 15:30:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19022746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/800th/pseuds/800th
Summary: gary takes care of rookie's spider problem





	outside

**Author's Note:**

> not proofread sorry lmao
> 
> anyways hi im NOT dead surprise
> 
> either way this was a wild step out of the comfort zone bc i HATE spiders, it was fun lmao

The spider on the table stood there like it lived there, at peace with itself. It felt safe. It.. belonged. It was the centerpiece, the subject on a still life painting with how.. immobile it was.

Yet, despite it's calm, still stature, Rookie was still on a chair on the other side of the Communications room. He'd been screaming bloody murder, the piercing disruption startling Gary right out of his desk chair and sending him bolting to the source. He stumbled in his panic, nearly hurting himself in the rush.

"Is everything alright?" Gary hadn't realized he was yelling, lucky enough to stop his instinctual run before he knocked over the chair Rookie was standing on. He tripped and fell right onto his back, giving an awkward flop similar to an asphyxiated fish.

"Spider!" Rookie couldn't have been any more specific, his extended flipper pointing out and towards the meeting table. Gary felt his breathing calm, relieved. It was only a spider. His nerves had been shot as of recent; Every little thing would get under his feathers.

"Alright. I'll get a glass and let it out." Gary came to his feet, amused as to how afraid Rookie was. He respected the fear, but he never understood it. Quite a spider enthusiast himself, he saw them similar to very, very antisocial dogs. He preferred reptiles, however, as spider hair bothered him.

A quick trip to the water dispenser nearby that was really only used by Dot when she wanted a reason to move around, he took hold of one of the paper cone cups. He didn't quite like the style himself, preferring cups that could be sat down with ease. Then again, all he really used were mugs for coffee. He didn't have much experience with cone shaped cups, but he knew right away he didn't like them.

Passing by a small shelf, he swiped an old newspaper. All of the thin paper around was too important for him to use to carry out a spider, so the old paper would have to do. A quick skim informed him it was from the summer of 2010, the time only a few years ago yet feeling like a millennium away. It was.. odd. Clocks were cruel, but he had never quite considered just how they'd warp his perception of time.

He returned to the table, eyeing down his 'opponent'. It reminded him of a dandelion, an undesired weed that would be simply gorgeous in its proper place. It would be the finishing touch on nature's statue, a last, lone snowflake that would signal the end of winter's largest snow and bring forth the hope for spring. It didn't belong in the EPF, as much as it may like to stay.

Putting the newspaper to the edge of the table, he took a deep breath to prepare himself. He just needed to guide the little creature atop the paper and take it outside, releasing it to a hopeful freedom. Hey, maybe the little dandelion would find friends and live a happy life snacking away on other pests. He was allowing it that life.

A small smile painting itself on his face, he allowed the cup to hover over the spider before placing it down. He could hardly see it through the filter of the plastic, the hazelnut hued creature turning fuzzy and distant. It was reminiscent of what he saw without his glasses, for sure.

But, as much as he tried, no longer could he move his flipper.

His gaze.. changed. Rookie, still atop the chair, watched as his soft expression ran itself dry. It returned to a neutral state, Gary's focus on the spider intensifying. He wasn't all about that science mumbo-jumbo, but his first assumption was that it was Gary's first instinct to study the little creature before they parted ways forever.

But, what would its life be like beyond this moment...? Gary's mind began to wander. Would it be encouraged to continue, or would it live in fear of plastic cups for eternity? He wasn't going to harm the spider, but he watched the way it crawled around the cup, looking for a way to escape. Would it forget? Or, would it always remember the life it had beneath the impenetrable plastic?

Is that the life Gary had now enforced upon it, forever living within the memory of the cage forced upon it?

He hadn't even realized how much hi heart was pounding. His throat was burning, scratching, smothering itself. Gary didn't want that life. That wasn't what he wanted to think about. Had he just forced a life of misery and fear into this spider, forcing it to await the next plastic cup?

An artificial freezing feeling scratched at the back of his neck. Fueled by the delusions of his mind alone, it began to spread and infect the rest of his body until the ice on his skin was making him twitch. It was only comparable to a plague, locked deep within his memories he'd shut out to protect himself.

He didn't want to live a life like that, forever fearing being trapped within a glass. The spider would likely forget, but Gary would always remember. He'd remember the way his throat was burning from screaming himself hoarse, the way his flippers bruised from banging on the glass. It wasn't about remembering, though. It was about forgetting.

Gary hadn't realized how far he'd tossed the cup-- in fact, it was more of a throw called upon by his shot put days. It was out of his view before he knew it, the little creature out free.

At least, its last moments were free.

Was it the right thing to do..? Gary's mind was ripping at the seams in the moment. Overcome with the weight of his own actions, a red hot rage burning deep within his core with only himself to target, he rolled the newspaper up with the flipper holding it.

He crushed the spider, killing it in the first shot. He watched the way it flattened against the table, dead. It wasn't coming back. It was over. The dandelion would never blossom into alabaster seeds, blown across the winds to carry a child's wish.

A life forever within glass.. Gary didn't want that for the spider. Death was a better fate than imprisoned with nothing but your own thoughts, in solitude as the cold began to stab at you, alone with not the faintest idea as to what would be made of the ones you love..

He desperately tried to justify what he'd done in his mind. The spider was better off dead, winter was coming, it'd die nonetheless..

Rookie watched as Gary left the paper behind, rapidly whispering to himself without a second thought. He retreated back to his lab without any other words to him. He hopped off the chair, but he wasn't so sure about whether or not he felt any better. Why did Gary act like that..?

Almost as if it were infectious, a chilly feeling similar to static erupted across the back of his neck.

**Author's Note:**

> gary: smacks a spider and kills it  
> rookie: uh oh sisters!
> 
>  
> 
> blackout fucked him up...


End file.
